Gong mechanism for automatic signals.



s. c. MARTIN. GONG MECHANISM FOR AUTOMATIC SIGNALS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 5, 1913- 1,217,476. Patented Feb. 27,1917. I

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GEORGE C. MARTIN, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNGR TO JOHN M.CARSON, OF

4 130$ ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

GONG MECHANISM FOR AUTOIVIATIC SIGNALS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 27, 1917.

Application filed May 5, 1913. Serial No. 765,4 I6.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE C. MARTIN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Los 'Angeles, in the county'of Los Angeles and Stateof'California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in GongMechanisms for Automatic Signals, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to improvements in electrically operated warningsignals and especially such as are useful in connection with railwaycrossings and the like.

It is an object of the invention to pro- Vide a "signaling mechanism forrailway purposes and particularly for railway crossings that shall havea simple and effective sounding device and one in which a gong isemployed, the hammer of which is operated from mechanism within thesignaling device and yet without unprotected'openings in the signalingdevice and the casing which incloses the same, through which rain, snowor sleet may enterand affect the said mechanism. i

In the accompanying drawing, forming a part of this specification,

Figure 1, is a vertical sectional view taken through a signal mechanism,and showing the same provided with-the, improved gong mechanism of thepresent invention.

Fig. 2, is a detail sectional View" taken upon the line 22' of Fig. .l,but showing the parts upon an enlarged scale.

a Fig. 3, is a similar detail sectional view, but showing a modifiedform of hammer Y operating mechanism.

Fig. 4, is a detail sectional view take upon the line 4 4 of Fig. 3. y

The mechanism forming the subject mat ter of the present invention'isdesigned to afford an efficient gong or sounding mechanism adapted foruse upon signalingdevices, and it is especially adapted for use 'inconnection with -a signaling device like that shown and described by mein a copending application for patent upon an au tomatic signal device,said application bearing Serial Number 758,294, andfiled April 2, 1913.This invention involves the use of a shaft moving or oscillating aboutits axis, for operating the hammer or clapper of a gong, and while sucha shaft is illustrated in the application above rc ferred to, the broadclaims for the inven' tion involving the sounding mechanism are made inthe present application.

Since the device of the present application is especially adapted foruse in' connection with the mechanism of a signal device like thatdisclosed in the prior application referred to, the said device has beenillustrated in the accompanying drawing as incorporated in such a signalmechanism, and the details and features of the invention will now bemore particularly described, reference being had thereto.

In the drawing 5 indicates the casing of a signal apparatus, 6 a rockshaft, journaled therein, and 7 a signal arm carried by said rock shaft.The arm 7 is provided with a signal target 8 adapted to attract theattention as the arm? is oscillated by the movement of the rock shaft 6.A motor 9 is mounted within the casing.5 and is ar ranged to'rock thesaid shaft 6 through the agency of intermediate gearing as indicated at10. v This portion'of mechanism is preferably made substantially likethe mechanism shown and described in my copending application abovereferred vto, and therefore'needs no further description here.

The sounding mechanism preferably comprises a gong 11 mounted upon thetop plate 12 of the casing 5 ,as clearly shown in Fig. l of the drawing.A vertically arranged shaft 13 is mounted in the casing 5, its lower endresting in a bearing 14, usually carried by the cap plate of one of thej ournal bearings as 15, of the rock shaft 6. The upper.v end of shaft13 extends through a bearing 16 in the top plate 12 and projectssufiiciently above the same to receive a hammer or clapper 17. The shaft13 is thus adapted to be oscillated for moving the hammer. back andforth and "thus sounding the'gong. v f

The sai shaft may be oscillated in various ways but is preferably'actuatedby be operated by the gearing 10 above referred to. I V

The shaft 13 preferably carries an ac-' tuating arm 23 loosely mountedupon the said shaft and normally held in proper p0 sition with relationto the said shaft 13 by means of a light spring 24. One end of thespring 2% is secured to the shaft 13, while the other end is secured tothe said arm 23. In order to enable the arm 23 to move the shaft 13 inone direction, the said arm 23 is provided with a projecting pin 25,which projects into the path of a projection 26, carried by a collar 27rigidly secured to the shaft 13. The structure is such that when the arm23 is moved in one direction, the pin 25 will engage the projection 26and oscillate the said shaft 13, but when the arm 23 is moved in theother direction, the pin 25 will move away from the projection 26 andnot actuate said shaft 13.

The arm 23 projects into the path of a lug 28 carried by the arm 18, sothat the said arm 23 is struck and moved by the said lug 28 at eachoscillation of the arm 18.

he shaft 13 is normally held in such a position that the hammer 17 willbe close to the edge of the gong 11, but will not quite touch the same.This is accomplished by the use of a coiled spring 30, surrounding theshaft 13 and having one end secured thereto, as by insertion in a holemade in the shaft, while the other end of the spring is inserted in anaperture in the cap plate 12 of the casing. The spring is so adjustedthat the hammer will normally stand in the relation mentioned withrespect to the gong. The hammer can however be swung away from the gongwhen the arm 23 is moved so as to engage the projection 26 carried bythe shaft 13. As soon as the arm 23 slips off the lug 28, the spring 30will tend to return the hammer to its normal position, but the momentumof the hammer will of course cause it to strike the gong beforespringing away from it, thus securing a clear sounding of the said gong.

at will be understood that the hammer shaft 13 may be moved about itsaxis or oscillated in various ways without departing from the spirit ofthe invention. Thus as shown in Figs. 3 and d of the drawing, the saidshaft may be provided with an actuating arm 31 rigidly secured theretoand adapted to bear with its outer free end upon one face of thecrank-disk 21. The said crank-disk is provided with one or moreprojections, or lugs 32 arranged to strike and move the free end of thearm 31. A spring 33 is coiled about the shaft 13 and one end engages thearm 31 so as to press it against the crank-disk 21, while the other endof the spring engages a stud or screw 3% depending from the top plate 12of casing. With this form of the device the rotation of the crankdisk 21causes the lugs 32 to move the arm 31 and oscillate the shaft 13 so asto carry the hammer away from the gong, the spring 33 operating toimmediately throw the hammer back again as the arm 31 passes each ofsaid lugs 32. The gong is thus repeatedly sounded whenever the signalmechanism is operated and whenever the target 8 is moved.

It will be evident that the mechanism for oscillating the hammercarrying shaft may be modified within the scope and spirit of theinvention. It is an important feature of the invention that the hammermay be carried by means which extend through he casing of the signaloperating mechanism in such a way as to require only a single bearinghole or aperture in the cover of the casing and such an aperture solocated as to be protected and practically closed to the weather.Heretofore in devices of this kind it has been necessary to provideelongated openings or slots for the hammer to move in and it is foundpractically impossible to prevent rain, snow or sleet from driving intosaid openings and injuring or stopping the mechanism inside the casingand in some instances from short-circuiting the electric current orcurrents employed in operating the parts of the signaling device.

What is claimed is:

1. A gong mechanism for signaling devices comprising a gong, a hammer, ashaft carrying said hammer, a spring for rotating said shaft normallyholding the hammer adjacent the gong, a means for rotating the shaftagainst the action of said spring whereby upon release of the shaft thehammer will be returned by the spring with sufficient force to carry itpast its normal position for striking the gong, said means comprising adriving member acting alternately in two directions and a spring deviceacted upon by said driving member and turning the shaft when the drivingmember acts in one direction but not when it acts in the other.

2. The combination with the signaling mechanism having a motor drivenshaft of a sounding mechanism having a gong, a vertical rock shaftjournaled adjacent to the motor driven shaft, and extending to a pointadjacent to said gong, a hammer, carried by the said shaft and arrangedto strike said gong, a spring controlling the said shaft to normallyhold the hammer yieldingly in position near the gong, means j ournaledupon the said vertical shaft and adap ed to be operated inconjunctionwith the movement of the said motor driven shaft, an abutmentmeans upon said vertical shaft adapted to be struck by said latter meanswhereby the hammer will be operated for sounding the gong. V

3. In combination with a signaling device having a motor driven rockshaft and gong actuating means projecting therefrom, of a soundingmechanism comprising a gong, a rock shaft, a spring held hammer forsounding the gong, a shaft carrying the hammer, a member journaled uponsaid shaft for turning the same and extending in the path of said gongactuating means, and an abutment member fixed to the hammer shaft andengaging said journaled member whereby the hammer is caused to sound thegong.

4:. A gong mechanism for a signaling device, comprising a rock shaft,ragong hammer carried thereby, an actuating member loosely mounted on saidshaft and yieldingly connected therewith, said member having an armprojecting into the path of a moving part of the signaling devicewhereby it will be swung about the said shaft,'

a collar secured to the said shaft and a pin projecting from the movablemember and engaging said collar, the structure being such that thecollar will be caused to actuate the shaft carrying the gong hammer whenthe movable member is moved in one direction, and not in the other.

5. In a signaling device, a sounding mechanism comprising a gong, ahammer a shaft carrying the same, a spring controlled arm upon saidshaft, means for imparting movement from said arm to said shaft, acrankdisk having projections thereon adapted to engage said springcontrolled arm and mechanism in the signaling device for actuating saidcrank-disk and causing the movement of the hammer carrying shaft insounding the gong.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, in presence of twowitnesses.

GEO. C. MARTIN. Witnesses:

CASSELL SEVERANOE, E. L. WILLIAMS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

' Washington, D. 0.

